The Genesis

Beyonce Knowles and her childhood best friends LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland along with LeToya Luckett formed a quartet that would perform in their backyards and at Beyonce's mother Tina Knowles' hair salon. After singing at local events, they got their break when they entered the program Star Search. The group, then named Girl's Tyme, were disappointed after losing the competition. The group lacked direction and a good manager. That is when Mathew Knowles, Beyonce's' father and Rowland's legal guardian, decided to help the girls reach their dreams of becoming singers. Mathew quit his six-figure salary job as a multi-million dollar equipment salesman at Xerox to manage the group. This was a tough decision and affected the whole family in an adverse manner. Reduction in household income by nearly half saw the family to move into two different apartments. When the group was signed to Columbia Records in late 1996, it gave the entire family a second chance at making things work.